Fernando Esqueda
Detective Fernando Esqueda was shot and killed from ambush after locating a vehicle wanted in connection to an aggravated assault.
The subject had become engaged in an argument with a restaurant employee over an incorrect order and pistol-whipped the worker. Witnesses provided responding deputies with the suspect’s license plate number, which detectives used to locate an area of interest using a license plate reader system. Detectives conducted an initial search of the area but didn’t locate the vehicle and cleared the area.
A short time later Detective Esqueda returned to the area and located the vehicle unoccupied in the 13200 block of Italian Cypress Trail. As he coordinated with other deputies the subject ambushed him and shot him multiple times. The responding deputies transported Detective Esqueda to a local hospital where he succumbed to his wounds.
The subject remains at large.
Detective Esqueda had served with the Harris County Sheriff’s Office for five years. He was assigned to the Violent Person Task Force and was working mandatory patrols in the aftermath of Hurricane Beryl.